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Mixed results for Sharks in opening pre-season fixtures against a university team and an international side
By Online Editors
The Sharks have hammered Russia 64-14 in a pre-season friendly in Durban on Friday.
It was a much better result for head coach Sean Everitt after the Sharks lost their first warm-up of the day 26-31 to North-West University-Pukke.
However, the team that faced the university side was much weaker than the one that faced Russia.
Continue reading below...
Newcomers Ox Nche, Le Roux Roets, James Venter, Henco Venter, Sikhumbuzo Notshe, Jordan Chait and Madosh Tambwe all made their first appearance in Sharks colours in the Russia match.
The Sharks were well in control at half-time against the Russians with a 26-7 half-time lead before reaching their final tally of 64-14.
In the match against Pukke, the Sharks looker comfortable with a 19-5 lead at half-time. However, Pukke fought back valiantly to secure a tight win.
The Sharks face Russia again next Friday (January 17) before facing the Stormers in Johannesburg on SuperHero Sunday (January 19).
They then open their regular season with a South African derby clash against the Bulls at Kings Park in Durban on January 31.
Super Rugby pre-season action continues this weekend, as the Stormers will face Maties, the Ikey Tigers, the Cape Peninsula University of Techology and a Western Province XV in four 20-minute periods at Florida Park in Ravensmead on Saturday.
All 15 Super Rugby sides will play a raft of pre-season matches over the coming fortnight before the regular season kick-off with the Blues hosting the Chiefs at Eden Park in Auckland on January 31.
Super Rugby pre-season fixtures and results:
Friday, January 10
Sharks 26-31 NWU-Pukke at Kings Park, Durban
Sharks 64-14 Russia at Kings Park, Durban
Saturday, January 11
Stormers vs Maties, UCT, CPUT and a DHL WP XV at Florida Park, Ravensmead
Friday, January 17
Chiefs vs Blues at Waihi Athletic Rugby Club, Waihi
Reds v Rebels at Marley Brown Oval, Gladstone
Waratahs vs Highlanders at Leichardt Oval, Sydney
Sharks vs Russia at Kings Park, Durban
Bulls vs Lions at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Jaguares vs Georgia XV at Estadio Jose Maria Minella, Mar del Plata
Saturday, January 18
Hurricanes vs Crusaders at Ashburton Showgrounds, Ashburton
Sunday, January 19
Stormers vs Sharks at FNB Stadium, Soweto
Lions vs Bulls at FNB Stadium, Soweto
Thursday, January 23
Rebels vs Brumbies at Greenfield Park, Albury (3:45pm kick-off)
Rebels vs Brumbies at Greenfield Park, Albury (6:15pm kick-off)
Friday, January 24
Blues vs Hurricanes at Onewa Domain, Auckland
Highlanders vs Crusaders at Wanaka A&P Showgrounds, Wanaka
Reds vs Waratahs at Dalby Leagues Club, Dalby
Jaguares vs Georgia XV at San Isidro Club, Buenos Aires
Saturday, January 25
Sunwolves vs Challenge Barbarians at Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu, Kitakyushu
- With Rugby365
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Latest Comments
Stephen Larkham, Mick Byrne, Scott Wisental, Ben Mowen, Les Kiss, Jim McKay, Rod Kafer.
There are plenty of great Australian coaches who could do a better job than Schmidt.
Go to commentsThis piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.
I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.
Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.
The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.
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